1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a communication establishment assisting system and an electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, some offices and other places use a multi function peripheral (MFP) which has a scanner function, a facsimile function, a printer function, a copier function and so forth. Most multi function peripherals are used with a connection to an information processing terminal such as a personal computer via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network). The multi function peripherals may act as an image forming apparatus which performs printing on a sheet on the basis of image data inputted from the information processing terminal, may act as an image scanning apparatus which obtains image data to be used in the information processing terminal, and may act as a document managing apparatus which stores document image data so as to be enabled to be retrieved.
To use such a multi function peripheral, it is required to install a control driver in an information processing terminal connected to the multi function peripheral via a network, and the control driver performs sorts of control of the multi function peripheral such as control of the image scanning apparatus and control of the image forming apparatus. Such a control driver can be installed by executing an installer program in the information processing terminal. For example, such installer programs are prepared for respective types of multi function peripheral, and require input of setting items used to establish communication connection between the multi function peripheral and the information processing terminal in its installing process. Therefore, if a user is not familiar with the network and the target multi function peripheral and the user carries out installation of the control driver, it is difficult to finish the installation completely.
To solve this problem, sorts of techniques on installation of a control driver have been proposed. For example, an installer program of a driver searches for a network peripheral which connects to an information processing terminal via a network and obtains peripheral information transmitted from the network peripheral, and searches for a local peripheral which connects to a local port of the information processing terminal and obtains peripheral information of the local peripheral. If a driver can be installed for the network peripheral and/or the local peripheral, this installer program registers the network peripheral and/or the local peripheral in a peripheral list on the basis of the obtained peripheral information and a driver file stored in a driver file storage unit of the information processing terminal. When a user selects a peripheral in the peripheral list, a driver of the selected peripheral is installed.
Another installer program searches for a printer on a network, and obtains device configuration information such a manufacturer name and a device type name from the printer. If a driver file is stored in an information processing terminal, this installer program installs a driver of the driver file, and if a driver file is not stored in an information processing terminal, this installer program downloads and installs a compatible driver.
Further, to install a driver, another installer program searches for a printing device connected to a network and a printing device connected locally, and displays the printing device for which a driver can be installed so as to enable a user to select it. When a printing device is specified to install a driver among the displayed printing device, this installer program obtains option configuration information and resource information from the printing device, writes the obtained information into the driver, and installs the driver to an information processing terminal.
Further, a printer downloads and stores the latest version of a printer driver from an external server device as a distributor of the printer driver. In this technique, an information processing terminal connected to the printer via a network can obtain and install the latest version of the printer driver from the printer.
Furthermore, an image forming apparatus generates a temporal ID and a temporal password for a guest on the basis of an instruction of an administrator and generates a 2D code which includes the ID for a guest and a path of a web page. The administrator scans the 2D code using an imaging device from the image forming apparatus, and sends the scanned information to an outsider using an email. The outsider accesses the web page displayed by the image forming apparatus on the basis of the information, downloads a driver, and installs the driver in the outsider's information processing terminal. Consequently, printing is available with the image forming apparatus in a predetermined time.
For example, in an office or the like operating a large scale network on which plural multi function peripherals are arranged, when a user wants to temporarily connect an information processing terminal to an image forming apparatus in front of the user to use the image forming apparatus, the user is required to install a control driver in the information processing terminal in order to control the image forming apparatus. Even if the control driver capable of controlling the image forming apparatus has been installed in the information processing terminal, the user must set information to control the image forming apparatus.
For example, using the aforementioned technique, if a user can connect the information processing terminal to the network (can let the information processing terminal to join the network), the user can properly install the control driver relatively easily even if the user is not familiar with the network and the target multi function peripheral.
However, to search for a multi function peripheral in a large scale network a long searching time is required to search a large address range, and since a lot of network devices other than the multi function peripheral are connected to the network, such a lot of network devices are detected as the searching result. Further, if plural multi function peripherals of a same type are arranged on the network, it is difficult to specify the target multi function peripheral among the plural multi function peripherals displayed as the searching result. Furthermore, since such searching is performed in the whole address range, a lot of network traffic may result in depressing a performance of the network, and such searching may be regarded as a malicious attack. Therefore, the aforementioned techniques of the installer program and the printer are not sufficient as solutions of the problems. In addition, in an office operating a large scale network, connecting a device without permission to the network is often prohibited, and therefore, techniques subject to connecting to the network can often not be applied, such as the aforementioned techniques of the installer program and the printer.
On the other hand, in the aforementioned technique of the image forming apparatus, connection to a network is established substantially after an administrator's permission, and thus, it is not the situation that it is possible to connect a device to the network without permission. However, since the administrator which issues an ID and a password is not always available, in this technique, when a user wants to temporarily use the multi function peripheral, the user may not able to immediately use it. Further, obligating the administrator to be always available results in a lot of the administrator's burden, and therefore, it is impracticable. Furthermore, in the aforementioned technique of the image forming apparatus, since the image forming apparatus must be configured to store a control driver and distribute the control driver through a web page displayed by itself, the problem arises that it is difficult to apply this to a low cost machine.